Beauty in everything

The Cafe From Hell

One of the world’s first theme restaurants Le Cafe de L’Enfer. Photograph by H. C. Ellis. The Cafe From Hell

The Cafe From Hell ‘Le Cafe de L’Enfer was one of the world’s first theme restaurants. The Hell-themed cafe was located in Parisian red light district (aka Pigalle, the neighborhood of the Moulin Rouge). The cafe was created in the late 19th century and was operating until sometime around the middle of the 20th.’ The cafe was decorated with plaster lost souls writhing on its walls and a bug-eyed devil’s head for a front door. According to one 1899 visitor, the café’s doorman—in a Satan suit—welcomed diners with the greeting, “Enter and be damned!” Hell’s waiters also dressed as devils. An order for three black coffees spiked with cognac was shrieked back to the kitchen as: “Three seething bumpers of molten sins, with a dash of brimstone intensifier!” Some joker apparently got the idea to open up another cafe called Le Ciel (Heaven) next door

One of the world’s first theme restaurants Le Cafe de L’Enfer. Photograph by H. C. Ellis

The Cafe From Hell

One of the world’s first theme restaurants Le Cafe de L’Enfer. Photograph by H. C. Ellis

One of the world’s first theme restaurants Le Cafe de L’Enfer. Photograph by H. C. Ellis

One of the world’s first theme restaurants Le Cafe de L’Enfer. Photograph by H. C. Ellis

One of the world’s first theme restaurants Le Cafe de L’Enfer. Photograph by H. C. Ellis